Here are my drawings from Inktober since last Thursday:

Prompt #4 was “spell.”

While “spelling bee” came to mind, I didn’t go with it. I also didn’t want to do someone casting a spell. I’m am trying to “think beyond what I see.” Then I thought of the doorway in the Lord of the Rings movie.

Prompt # 5 was “chicken.”

Again, I didn’t want to go for the ordinary. Hmmm, it was also the second time I’d been thinking about chicken. Remember, the first time was with the word “roasted.” Okay, I really like chicken in my Instant Pot. And now that I’m writing this sentence, that would have been really funny if I’d drawn my Instant Pot. (grin, and some maniacal laughter)

Instead, I let the chicken get some revenge on those Chick-Fil-A cows.

Prompt # 6 was “drooling.”

I didn’t want to go for some guy drooling over a pretty girl or the monster drooling. Yet strangely, I still went for the monster drooling. And you thought it was you that always drooled all over your pillow.

Prompt #7 was “exhausted.”

This took awhile for me to decide what to do. I used Google to look up images of exhausted to see if that would spur any ideas. Someone had a very exhausted horse. Bingo!

Many years ago, in fact it was shortly after my oldest son was born, I had a critique group. We met weekly pretty much consistently for years. So we got to know each other’s writing really well. They suffered through my many, many, many, many, many, many drafts of what has become Quest for the Three Books. I learned a lot from these two ladies. Fortunately, even though we no longer get to for critiques and some of us have moved, we still communicate through social media and sometimes in person when the opportunity presents itself. Anyway, the point of all of this is that one of them, Sherri, use to write “dead horse” when I’d get to stating the blatantly obvious or was repeating myself to the reader. Many times she even told me to stop beating it. I knew it was really bad when there was a little drawing of a horse with its legs up in the air. So, I could resist. I dedicate Exhausted to Sherri. (grin)

Prompt # 8 was “star.”

 

I really thought about taking the easy way on out this one and just drawing a star.

But no, Stargate popped into my mind and then I was lost to it. I’ve often described the hole in the paper that I feel I slip through when I tell a story. To me, that’s how the Stargate feels. One moment I’m in the real world, then, with a step and whoosh, I’m in another world running for my life and avoiding (hopefully) capture by the enemy. There’s plotting, and sword-fighting, romance, and magic. Yeah, little hole = Stargate.

Prompt #9 was “precious.”

Again, I was tempted to go for the easy idea: a ring with strange writing, or a hand holding a ring.  I couldn’t drop this thought. I kept thinking about what I would hold precious. Now don’t get me wrong: I love my kids and they are precious to me, but I have known from the moment they were born that they were their own person and would someday have to live on their own and then without me. They have never been something I would hold onto eternally as “precious.” I would have to let them fly by themselves. So what did I hold precious if not my kids? The answer was easy: stories. I have always loved stories. No, scratch that. I have always loved my stories. It’s always been hard for me to find stories that adequately suck me in. Fortunately, we live in a day and age when the gatekeepers are down and we now have a flood of creatively talented people giving wings to their works. With very few exceptions, I’m really pretty much all indie or small press authors for my fiction. Non-fiction is different. I also love images for the stories that they tell me and where they want to send me seeking. So yes, I hold story as precious.

Prompt #10 is “flowing.”

This one was difficult for me. I kept thinking about a river or “go with the flow.” I figured, knowing me I’d do something with a waterfall. I even sketched out a forest pathway that had a large tree with a waterfall flowing out of it.

I’m not sure why I decided on tears finally. I do know why I chose to draw one eye. I’ve only ever been good at drawing that one left eye. I use to draw Egyptian-style eyes all the time. For a while when I was drawing Weblinks early on, I would copy the left eye after I’d drawn it and use the program to flip it so my eyes would look alike. I knew it was an acceptable hack, but part of me always felt guilty. I finally decided I really needed to learn how to draw the other eye. I’ve gotten much better. But last night, with it getting late, I decided just to go for one eye. Maybe it makes an artistic statement, something about how tears are one-sided, designed to manipulate others into doing our will. What do you think?

I never imagined that Inktober would make me uncover so much of my own creative process or reveal so much of it to my blog audience. Wow.

Well, that’s all there is for now. We are now a third of the way through Inktober. I hope I can keep it up. My brain keeps telling me I way too tired for this, yet I keep at it anyway. Realizing I’ve conquered one-third of the journey helps. The halfway point is coming up. I’ve just gotta keep at it.

Stay tuned to my Instagram or Twitter pages for the daily pictures and more.